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Policy Paper on Increasing Carbon Sequestration in the Gulf-Houston Region Through Targeted Large Scale Planting of Native Trees and Flora Species

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Policy Paper on Increasing Carbon Sequestration in the Gulf-Houston Region Through Targeted Large Scale Planting of Native Trees and Flora Species Policy Paper on Increasing Carbon Sequestration in the Gulf-Houston Region Through Targeted Large Scale Planting of Native Trees and Flora Species Summer 2019 Part of the Gulf-Houston Regional Conservation Plan 3rd Key Goal- Increase of 0.4% in Carbon Sequestration Annually Authors: Karla Gorostieta & Deborah January-Bevers Review by Dr. Sewwandi Rathnayake Table of Contents I. Introduction .................................................................................................................................................................................... 2 A. Background on Houston Wilderness ...................................................................................................................................................... 2 B. Background on the 8-County Gulf-Houston Regional Conservation Plan ............................................................................. 2 Figure 1 & 2 – RCP Maps and Action Agenda..………………………………………………………….……………………………...…3 C. Basis of 0.4% Annually Increase ............................................................................................................................................................... 4 1. International (Figure 3) ............................................................................................................................................................... 4 2. National ................................................................................................................................................................................................. 5 3. Regional…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..…..6 II. Background on Carbon Sequestration .................................................................................................................................... 6 A. Texas Carbon Oxidation Rate in Soils…………………………………………………………………………………………………...…...6 1. Tillage Practices ................................................................................................................................................................................ 6 2. Better Management of Tillage Practices (Figure 4) ......................................................................................................... 7 3. No Tillage Practices ......................................................................................................................................................................... 8 B. Regional Soils, Trees, and Plants (Figure 5) ........................................................................................................................................ 8 1. Current NRCS Soil Data for 8 County Region (Figure 6) ............................................................................................... 9 Figure 7 …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..…10 2. Gulf-Houston Native Tree Species- Calculations of Carbon Increase by Year (Figure 8) .......................... 11 Figure 9 .............................................................................................................................................................................................. 12 3. Native Grass Species- Calculations of Carbon Sequestration by Year (Figure 10) ........................................ 13 Figure 11……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………14 C. Composting ....................................................................................................................................................................................................... 15 1. Wood Mulch ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 15 2. Food Composting .......................................................................................................................................................................... 16 III. Increase Carbon Sequestration- Steps Needed to Increase Soil Sequestration by 0.4% Annually in the Gulf- Houston Region ............................................................................................................................................................................ 17 A. Large-scale Tree Planting Initiatives with Targeted Tree Species for High Carbon Sequestration ...................... 17 1. TXDOT-Houston District's Freeway Forestation Green Ribbon Program & City of Houston's Million Trees+ Houston Initiative. ........................................................................................................................................................ 17 2. Bayou Greenway Initiative ....................................................................................................................................................... 18 3. Houston Parks and Recreation Department .................................................................................................................... 18 4. Port of Houston TREES Program ........................................................................................................................................... 18 Figure 12………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..…..19 5. Harris County Flood Control District Projects ................................................................................................................ 20 6. CoH TREES Program .................................................................................................................................................................... 20 7. Houston Area Urban Forests Project/Houston-Galveston Area Council ........................................................... 21 B. Regional Ecology-Forests/Large Scale Trees (Figures 13 & 14) ………………………………………………….…………....22 C. Current Data/Research on Carbon Sequestration in Texas (Table 1) …………………….…………………………………23 Figure 16………………………………………….…………...…………………………………………………………………………………24 1 Gulf-Houston RCP- 3rd Key Goal (Increase of 0.04% Carbon Sequestration Annually) I. Introduction A. Background on Houston Wilderness1 Houston Wilderness works to protect and celebrate the coastal prairies, forests, wetlands, and waterways of the 13 counties around Houston, Galveston Bay, and the Gulf of Mexico. Houston Wilderness connects with other nonprofits in this space, work on grants to enact environmentally resilient and sustainable solutions, and educate the public, especially children, about the values of our ecological diversity. Houston Wilderness and the many partners involved in the 8-county Gulf-Houston Regional Conservation Plan (www.GulfHoustonRCP.org) began implementation of three key goals in 2018. These three RCP goals, which overlap and complement current nature-based actions/initiatives taking place regionally, are as follows: (1) reaching 24% by 2040 in protected/preserved nature-based infrastructure in the 8-county region, (2) reaching 50% by 2040 in nature-based stabilization of riparian, developed & undeveloped, agricultural and coastal areas in the region, and (3) working toward a .4% annual increase in nature-based carbon offsets on stabilized regional lands through enhanced native soils, plants and trees throughout the region. Per our mission and current programming, Houston Wilderness works closely with governmental, business and NGO partners on advocating for and implementing these three key goals, including continued facilitation of the www.GulfHoustonRCP.org website, the RCP Working List of Projects and interactive GIS-based mapping, distribution of informational policy papers, and opportunities for submission of collaborative multl-partner grants related to the 3 key goals. This policy paper is part of HW's work on the 3rd key goal - to provide research, opportunities and information to help the 8-county region increase its organic carbon sequestration rate to .4% annually in its soils through large-scale tree planting and use of native grasses throughout the region. B. Background on the 8-county Gulf-Houston Regional Conservation Plan2 Facilitated by Houston Wilderness, the Gulf-Houston Regional Conservation Plan (Gulf-Houston RCP) is a long-term collaborative of environmental, business, and governmental entities working together to implement a resilience plan for the Gulf-Houston region. In addition to providing a unique online interactive database of all targeted nature-based infrastructure projects taking place in the region, the three key goals of the eight-county Gulf-Houston RCP include: (1) increasing the current 9.9% in protected/preserved land in the eight-county region to 24% of land coverage by 2040, (2) increasing and supporting the region-wide land management efforts to install nature-based stabilization techniques, such as low-impact development, living shorelines, and bioswales, to 50% of land coverage by 2040, and (3) 1http://houstonwilderness.org 2 http://houstonwilderness.org/gulf-houston-regional-conservation-plan 2 providing research and advocacy for an increase of 0.4% annually in air quality offsets through carbon absorption in native soils, plants, trees, and oyster reefs throughout the eight county region. Figure 1. Gulf-Houston Regional Conservation Plan Phase 1 & 2 Projects3 Figure 1: Vision map of Gulf-Houston RCP Phase 1 & 2 Projects. Figure 2. Action agenda to the three key goals of the Gulf-Houston RCP3 3 http://www.gulfhoustonrcp.org/#vision_maps 3 C. Basis of 0.4% Annual Increase This policy paper concentrates on the 3rd Key Goal which
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